The best wood for the fire is Ash, and Birch is good too, particularly as it grows quickly. According to the late (great) John Seymour in his book Self-Sufficiency, plant ash and birch at 5ft intervals, and coppice it when the trees are about 9inches in diameter. The trees then regrow and you can harvest every 12 years approximately.
You can also try alder, but it needs to be seasoned well before burning.
Hope this helps!

That certainly is an interesting website, Badge. I can remember being amazed at the speed with which a neighbour's eucalyptus tree grew, when we lived in suburban Dublin....almost far too vigorous for a normal garden.
However, I would remind you, Bubbles, it is a totally alien species to this country, and as such is of absolutely no benefit to wildlife, so maybe ash and birch would be better if such things matter to you.

thats a good point, also there is an eucalyptus tree outside my house planted by a neighbour and the branches have a habit of falling off it and they are very heavy so i might keep away from them.
Birch or ash seem like a good option.

However, I would remind you, Bubbles, it is a totally alien species to this country, and as such is of absolutely no benefit to wildlife, so maybe ash and birch would be better if such things matter to you.

I'd be inclined to agree with Sive if I hadn't been standing underneath a large Eucalyptus the other day when it was wonderfully warm and sunny. The sound of insects humming as they fed on its flowers was positively thunderous. I'm quite sure it isn't as insect-friendly as ash and birch but it's not a completely alien environment for our native species either.

Incidentally, I've burned trimmed branches from this particular tree and the wood burns rather well, it's easy to cut too.

That's interesting garlicbreath......I remember hearing an eminent gardening broadcaster on the BBC once say you may as well be planting plastic trees as planting eucalyptus, for all the good they are to wildlife and that phrase stuck in my brain !
Maybe he meant it in a broader sense, maybe the actual wood and the leaves are not attractive to all the myriads of insects that live in trees.

I don't disagree Sive, I'm very much an advocate of native trees and plants and wildlife-friendly gardening generally. I suspect the good weather recently means there are more insects around than normal and they're taking advantage of any food sources they can find. The effect was brilliant though

a eucalyptus is better than no tree, but i've heard that one of the main dangers is planting them in places where the water table is already low, because they have very deep roots and can further deplete the water table.

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